Reunion
by GusGus Gamgee
Summary: 10 year reunion at Hogwarts! Hermione runs into some old friends and not-friends, and learns to appreciate what she has. Mostly canon compliant. Not much to tell other than that... ONE-SHOT


**NOTE: **I do not own any characters, etc. It is all JK Rowling (though I wish upon a flying elephant every night that it was me…)

Hermione fiddled with the gold bracelet Ron had gotten her the week before for their eighth anniversary. She had been talking with Neville and Hannah Longbottom before the newlywed couple had been dragged away to be congratulated by Lavender and Seamus. Sighing, she glanced around. She found Ron easily enough, his red hair like a beacon as he talked with Terry Boot, no doubt pestering him for stories about life with the Manchester Manticores. While he was quite satisfied with life as an Auror, Hermione had no doubt he sometimes fantasized about what could have been had he accepted the Cannon's Keeping offer. Maybe it was Ginny's success as Chaser on the Holyhead Harpies that also kept his daydreams alive.

Speaking of Ginny... Hermione looked to her right and saw the redhead on the arm of her husband of seven years. The Boy Who Lived was thoroughly entranced by whatever Professor Flitwick was saying, and didn't even notice his wife finishing his drink for him. She shook her head - Harry had always been somewhat oblivious. Hermione made her way over to the refreshments and helped herself to some pumpkin juice. She watched as Filch grumpily straightened the banner proclaiming: WELCOME BACK CLASS OF '97! ITS BEEN 10 YEARS! She couldn't believe the time had passed so quickly. Three years after the Battle of Hogwarts, she had gotten married to Ron. He and Harry became Aurors, Ginny graduated and got recruited by the Harpies, and Hermione joined the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, eventually leaving and setting up SPEW as its own institution. Deep in memories, Hermione didn't even notice when a tall, dark man walked up to her.

"Hermione Granger? It's been too long." Startled, she looked up, and saw that Blaise Zabini was towering over her.

"Blaise? How nice to see you again!" While he had been in Slytherin, the two had been in several classes together and had appreciated the other's wit and intelligence. "What have you been up to?"

"Oh, I've just been in Italy. I've been working as an ambassador between there and here. Nothing too exciting." But he was beaming as he said this, so Hermione knew he was proud of himself. And he deserved it too. "What about you?"

"Well, I've started a new organization. Do you remember SPEW? The group I started in fourth year? I've taken that and grown it so that it now includes goblins, werewolves and merpeople as well as house elves." He let out a low whistle.

"Oh, is that all, then?" he joked. She chuckled and nodded. "And, if I remember correctly, you have a kid, right?"

"Two, actually. Rose and Hugo. Rose is three and Hugo just turned one. What about you?" He flipped his hand to show her an empty ring finger.

"Not yet. But I'm hoping to have a ring on her finger by the end of the year." Hermione smiled.

"That's so lovely, Blaise. I'm really happy for you." He smiled again, teeth flashing white against his tanned skin. "Oh, it looks like Ron is calling me over. Are you in town for a few days, or just for the reunion?"

"I'm here the rest of the week. Would you like to grab coffee or something?"

"That sounds great, Blaise. I'll see you soon." She reached up and gave him a hug. "It was nice to catch up."

As she walked over to where Ron was standing, Hermione glanced around and was amazed at how many of her old classmates had come back. There were the Patil twins, and Anthony Goldsmith, and Terry Boot. She even saw Greg Goyle standing next to Professor Trelawney, looking decidedly uncomfortable.

She reached her husband, and he bent down to peck her cheek.

"Hey gorgeous," he whispered in her ear, and she smiled. She never forgot how lucky she was to have a life with the wonderful man standing next to her with his callused thumb running circles around hers.

"Terry, how are you?" The round of pleasantries began again, but were interrupted by an aged Professor McGonagall announcing that the Great Hall was opening for lunch. Hermione quickly excused herself to use the loo, after extracting a promise from Ron to save her a seat.

Focusing on making sure her hands were dry, Hermione didn't even look as the walked out the door. She ran into a lean, hard shoulder not ten steps from the door.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. Silly me, not looking where I was going… oh," she faltered when she saw who she had run into. While the blond hair was darker and somewhat more disheveled, there was no mistaking the pointed features or the piercing grey eyes. "Erm, hullo… Draco."

"How… nice to see you," he replied. Not in the sneering drawl from their school years, but in a somewhat weary yet pleasant tenor. There were lines around his eyes and mouth that had certainly not been there when they had left school, but then again, he had had more to deal with than she had. From what she had heard, he had had the duties as lord of the Manor thrust upon him as soon as his name had been cleared after the War. Another familiar-yet-different voice came from behind him.

"How have you been, Hermione?" It was Pansy, who was looking at her with interest. "I haven't seen you in several years – how is your company doing?"

"Quite well, thank you. We gained a lot of prestige after you helped us through that lawsuit, so we've been working on expanding our work." Pansy had entered the legal world, and her sharp wits and Slytherin ambition had enabled her to rise quickly in the ranks of lawyers. SPEW had hired her several years earlier to help with a particularly nasty lawsuit from an old wizarding family who claimed SPEW had no right to decide how to treat their familial servants. Pansy had lived up to her reputation, and they had sailed through the issue.

"Well, we were just heading to lunch. Walk with us." Pansy didn't give her much of a choice, but that was just Pansy being Pansy. "Anyway, Draco, what were you saying?"

"Oh, I was just wondering how you got Theo through his colic. I've been up the past week with Scorp, and he's not getting any better. I'm practically running on coffee at the moment, and I feel like one day I'm just going to fall asleep and then that idiot Smith will just screw over all the accounts and I'll have to stay up another three nights just fixing them and trying to placate the ten corporation heads he managed to insult while I was away–" Hermione watched, amused, as Pansy clapped her hands in front of Draco's haggard face to interrupt his rant.

"Snap out of it, crazy man. For the colic, take him to the Healers and they'll fix him in a second. Don't know why you didn't take him earlier – you'd have saved yourself a hell of a lot of time and trouble. As for Smith, stop worrying! You obviously hired him because he's competent, and I'm sure he can handle you taking a day off. Speaking of which, when was the last time you _actually _took a day off? And not the 'day off' where you sneak in reports when Scorp is busy playing?"

Draco's mouth snapped shut, and he looked stunned. He scratched his head. "Well, there was Daph's wedding last summer…"

"Where you left the reception half an hour into it because someone had misplaced a file and you thought the office would burst into flames because the Sandburg deal would be running an hour behind schedule." She rolled her eyes towards Hermione. "Honestly, Draco, it's great that Scorp has your mom, but it's not good that he's going to grow up thinking that the grocery list needs to be rewritten five different ways 'in case it can be misinterpreted.'" Hermione felt bad for her one-time enemy, so she interrupted Pansy's tirade.

"So, you have a son?" He took the out gratefully and gracefully.

"Yes, Scorpius. He's three. What about you? I know you married Weasley, but not much more than that."

"Yup, two kids. Hugo actually turned on last week, and Rose is three." He gave a small smile.

"So they'll be in school together." He chuckled. "That should be interesting."

"Did your wife come along today?" Hermione immediately regretted her question when she saw his face tighten, and something flashed through his eyes for a mere split second. In a twisted mirror image of Blaise, who was full of hope for the future, he held up his left hand, where a simple black band rested on his ring finger.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't know…"

"Two years ago. There was a small anti-Voldemort group who thought the best way to get back at former followers make them feel the pain of losing someone close. Since my mother was too well protected… well… Astoria got caught in the middle of something she shouldn't have been involved with…" He trailed off in confusion, and Pansy patted his arm. Hermione felt terrible – she had been so naïve to think the War would just end with the Final Battle.

"Anyway," he cleared his throat, "I should probably go say hello to Blaise. Haven't seen him much lately, what with Italy and all. It was a pleasure seeing you, Hermione. If our paths don't cross until then, I shall see you in eight years at King's Cross on September the first." She smiled, and stuck out her hand. He stared at it, and then reached out to clasp it.

"Fate is a fickle thing, Draco, but I will look for you then." He turned and strode away, while Hermione and Pansy followed him to the Great Hall at a much more sedate pace. The two of them found Ron, and sat down to enjoy the luncheon that Hogwarts provided. Movement halfway through caught her eye, and Hermione watched as Draco said goodbye to Blaise. She caught his eye and gave him a small salute, which he returned, a crooked grin ghosting across his face.

She was suddenly overcome with gratitude for the solid, warm body sitting next to her, working his way through an enormous plate of food, red hair sticking out in all directions. She leaned against him and placed her head on his shoulder. He responded unconsciously by placing his arm around her and pulling her close.

Two hours later, after more pleasantries and goodbyes, Ron and Hermione made their way to the Burrow to pick up their pride and their joy. Outside the door, Hermione suddenly pulled Ron into a hug and buried her face in his chest.

"I love you, Ron Bilius Weasley," she said, voice muffled by his shirt.

"I love you too, Hermione Jean Granger Weasley." She heard the smile in his voice as he reached down to kiss the top of her head. "Now, shall we see if my mother still has her knack for scaring little terrors into naptime?" Hermione grinned and allowed herself to be pulled inside to where her family was waiting.

**A/N: **Okay, so… kinda random. I don't really like the ending, so I will need to work on that… But I do like the plot. This came to me at work, and I just had to start writing it down. I mean, I totally didn't skive off restocking Gatorade to write a fanfic… Pshaw – whatever gave you that idea?

Also, I do realize that colic happens when a baby is like three months, but I had to work it into the plot somehow. Maybe it's special wizard colic? Who knows, whatevah.

So, if you have any suggestions, comments, complaints, etc, etc. please, don't hesitate to let me know (a.k.a – REVIEW!) Thanks for reading!


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